ABOUT 600 city centre businesses will get the chance to vote on whether they want the Business Improvement District to go ahead when ballot papers are issued in September.

But there is a great deal of work to do and several formal steps that need to be completed before that point.

The next few months will see extensive consultation with businesses over the proposed business plan and its four key strands, Clean, Safe, Alive and Promoted.

In April, formal notification will be sent to the Secretary of State and Bradford Council of the intention to hold a ballot on the BID.

Then in June, the final, agreed business plan will be sent to the council and formally launched for all those in the BID boundary to study.

Formal notice of the ballot will be issued a month later before the voting papers are sent out in September. The ballot will be run by independent specialists and conducted entirely by post.

All the businesses that would be subject to the levy that will fund the BID for five years will then have 28 days to vote.

The BID will only go ahead if a majority of those who take part vote in favour and only if they represent more than 50 per cent of the total rateable value.

The result of the ballot will be declared in October and, if it’s a “Yes”, a Board of Directors will be formed and key staff appointed before the BID begins its five-year term of operation at the end of the year.